davee58

51 minutes ago, topt said:

Thanks for highlighting that as I was also not aware. Do you have a specific link you can share at all? 

In fact, here is an up to date link to Deloitte:  Deloitte

37 minutes ago, topt said:

Thanks for highlighting that as I was also not aware. Do you have a specific link you can share at all? 

This HMRC document is about ten years old: HMRC document

The end of the first page states:
 

Quote

Where the spouse or civil partner to whom the assets are transferred does not have a UK domicile there is a lifetime limit (cap) on the value of the assets that can be transferred free of IHT. The cap is currently £55,000 - section 18(2) Inheritance Tax Act 1984.

Quote

Proposed revisions
Legislation will be introduced in Finance Bill 2013 to reform the IHT treatment of transfers between UK-domiciled individuals and their non-UK domiciled spouse or civil partners in two ways: • the cap will be increased to the level of the prevailing nil-rate band level; and, • under a new election regime, individuals domiciled other than in the UK and who are married or in a civil partnership with a UK domiciled person will be able to elec...

The lifetime limit was revised to £325,000 the current nil-band limit. 

If you have had several non domiciled wives the assets transferred are cumulative so your wife at the time of your death will potentially face paying 40% tax on money transferred to earlier wives.

We are not married...

1 hour ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Qualified UK accountant or anonymous, semi-literate, unqualified Asean Now posters flitting between guessing and googling for IHT advice?   What?  Difficult decision..seriously.

Good point, however there is no decision involved.  I will be discussing this with a UK accountant and might well see if he would be an executor for me rather than dumping a total mess on my sister or other surviving relatives.

What I am interested in is how others have handled this situation, what action can be taken to minimise the impact and how a worst case scenario can be avoided.

Hi.
Following the recent death of my Mother in the UK I became aware of UK Inheritance tax and started to investigate how it will apply in the case of a foreign domiciled spouse or Girlfriend.

Me and my Girlfriend have been together over 15 years, we are not married and spend the majority of the year apart due to my UK commitments.  She has never visited the UK. When I am away I send an allowance through Western Union as "Family Support".

As things stand I will be liable to IHT on my death due to my UK property and savings.

It seems that after my death the UK tax authorities could class all my years worth of family support as "Gifts" and demand 40% IHT on the whole lot.  The seven year exemption rule for gifts does not apply for gifts made to a non-UK domiciled person. 

Also if we were to marry, IHT exempt transfer to my wife would be limited to the first £325,000, this would include the value of all "Gifts" made prior to our wedding.
 

Does anybody have experience in this area, I intend to discuss this with a UK accountant however feel that I might get better advice and different insights here.

2 hours ago, James7001 said:

If you have been vaccinated and you also have had a recent negative Covid  test you cannot spread or carry the virus. 

Just wash your hands,

for 100 percent certainty. ????

39 minutes ago, desert dueller said:

You are right - and I stand corrected on that one. So, in that case quarantine would still apply to -  and be useful for -  all vaccinated and non-vaccinated arrivals (certified or not). It just underlines my point that unless the host population is fully - or close to fully - vaccinated, any opening of borders is a risk, with or without quarantine. Any vaccination obtained by a foreign arrival is therefore -  under present circumstances - of no benefit. I need to underline that the underlying premise of my comment is the current level of scientific knowledge (as disseminated by Pfizer itself) as to the vaccine's efficacy being limited to blocking symptoms and illness, and not extending to actually fully or partially limiting the vaccinated person's contagious effect on persons in contact. 

My understanding is that the scientists need to prove that vaccinated people cannot spread Covid-19 rather than just assume.

Once vaccination becomes widespread the statistics will become available, and international guidance issued for some or all vaccines.

At that point Covid-19 may well be treated like yellow fever, once you have proof of vaccination you should be free to travel.

When I worked in Bangkok many years ago, I was forced to wear a big badge saying "VIP".

Can someone tell me what is draining the battery the most?

This shows you the time active on the battery, and the percentage of battery used by each application during this time.

If you have the GPS model and do not use GPS then turn it off as this can drain the battery.

Likewise a weak WiFi signal can drain the battery, found this out in a couple of hotels recently.

The occasional restart is also a good idea as it will clear active applications. I recently had a hotel booking app that was using a high percentage of the battery, restart fixed that.

Turn down the screen brightness, sit in the shade.

Had mine for just over a year, I charge once a day, use for e-mail, news, and occasional web browsing and it normally stays above 50% battery.

The Cambodian e-visa if you don't have a credit card is there another way to pay?

Payment methods are shown at the bottom of the official online application page: https://www.evisa.gov.kh/ , I see no way to proceed without a payment card of some kind.

Use the "Visa on Arrival" method, you will lose a full page in your passport due to the visa sticker, but save the online processing fee.

Feather DE blades, purchased today from the ISETAN supermarket on level 5 of the Central world plaza (World Trade Centre) in Bangkok. They are hanging on a stand by the cashier tills.

These are my favourite blade and give an excellent shave used in my Muhle R89 closed comb razor, though I do tend to bleed a bit on the first shave with a new blade. Not tried the yellow ones before, only the blacks so I don't know what the difference is.

I have previously got them from Pratunam market, and a couple of other places.

For the record I use Geo.F.Trumpers shave cream (currently coconut) and a Muhle silvertip badger brush, finishing with Trumpers extract of Lime skin food All of these were purchased in Europe, I doubt they can be found locally.

http://www.boontengoptical.com/contactlensesboo.html

Says they stock speciality lenses like multifocal. 

I tried Boonteng optical this morning.

They only offer one type of progressive lens - Proclear Monthly, and they need to order them specially.

Can anybody help me to find an optician selling Progressive contact lenses in Bangkok.

I have tried a couple of opticians on Sukhumvit this morning but was told at both places that this type of contact lens is not, or is no longer available in Thailand.

I am looking for Progressive or Multifocal contact lenses, not the normal type of contact lenses which  are widely available.

Everybody expects basic wifi for free these day.

It's all about idiot political correctness.

Why do they not offer a recycling bin for old plastic carrier bags that are not re-used by the customer for other purposes such a garbage if they feel so strongly about it.

They could even extend it to recycling other items.

But the "green" philosophy gives supermarkets the opportunity to make cash by inconveniencing shoppers.

Political pressure and greed, they get a payoff by charging customers for carrier bags.

And the green lobbyists behind this scam get paid to sit in their meetings all day, whilst swigging coke from two litre plastic coke bottles, each of which contains as much plastic as several thousand carrier bags.

Absolute scum.

Raky--Pochentong Airport - Phnom Penh central/Riverside;

Taxi - $9

Tuk tuk - $7

Moto - $3

Wow 6 years since I have been there, and those prices have hardly changed..........or maybe I paid way tot much way back then...

More expensive than Bangkok!

The CoOperative bank Guernsey has now updated their website, they are giving the required 30 days termination notice as detailed in their small print.

Further to our communication regarding the closure of the Co-operative Bank Guernsey Branch we have continued to develop our plans to close our banking operation on Guernsey.

On the 11^th October 2013 we sent letters to customers advising them that we are issuing notice of our intention to close all Co-operative Offshore Fixed Term Deposit accounts held at the Guernsey branch. Customers have until close of business on Friday 22^nd November 2013 to close their account(s).

You will receive interest up to the account closure date. We will also pay £100 as a goodwill gesture to customers who contact us with instructions to close their Offshore Fixed Term Deposit account(s) before close of business on Friday 15th November 2013.

I really cannot see any "goodwill gesture" there.

Currently my fixed term deposits with the bank are all paying over 3%, under the current climate I will struggle to find 2% elsewhere.

Plus the hassle of certified passport copies, and the lost interest days whilst transferring the funds.

The 18,000 THB return fare from Chiang Mai to Singapore seems like a bargain to me.

If you do not have enough money, why not travel on different dates, travel elsewhere, or catch the bus.

Alliance and Leicester International (iom) was recently changed to be the IOM branch of Santander :

Seemingly business is as before with interest paid gross for expats.

http://www.santander.co.im/

CoOp offshore is the parent for Britannia International, this is more for offshore savings.

http://www.britanniainternational.com/

I think that CoOp also has a Guernsey branch???

I hate opening a new account due to all the regulatory requirements, and proof of where the savings are from.

I had problems with mails from my Philippine girlfriends Yahoo account a couple of years ago, and spent a couple of days analysing the bounced header, and sending enquiries to different internet companies.

I finally received an e-mail from a spam company, confirming that all mail from the particular Yahoo node was blocked due to bulk spamming.

No problem with her other e-mail addresses.

Jeez, how sad.

I remember reading his site, his recipes, and all his motorcycle trips - how he just managed to reach the shelter of a highway flyover before the torrential rain hit etc.

Must be well over 10 years ago, in the early days of the internet. He seemed to have such an active life.

R.I.P.

I used to regularly visit Woodstock in Nana Plaza whenever I was in Bangkok, and have been to their new location a few times in the past.

Not been there for a couple of years now because their website has been down. It is not worth wasting time travelling to such a out of the way location when It might be closed,

When it first opened, the Bangkok skytrain was a clean and fast alternative to the streets below, high quality travel.

Now it is dirty and overcrowded, almost as bad as the LRT in Manilla.

As I said before, the Skype voucher is available in the UK, not Thailand.

If you are in Bangkok you can also use the 'Bank Transfer' method. You make a payment to USBC in Bangkok. and it is transferred to Skype. There are bank fees involved and it takes a few days.

This link provides various methods of buy Skype credit in different countries:

http://www.skype.com...es/ways-to-pay/

Your girlfriend will have to get a bank account to use PayPal. PayPal is supported by banks in many countries. If I recall, to setup links to a bank in that country, I'm pretty sure you need to be using an IP address from that country.

What is her and your country of residence?

Hi BB1950.

I gave up and got her a Thai sim for her phone instead, I will get her a Malaysian one when we hit KL.

What should have been simple, her buying Skype credit using the balance on her Paypal account turned out to be impossible.

I rather suspect that it is due to the taxation of internet services, where the purchase tax charged is based upon the residential address of the credit card holder.

If you have a UK address you will be charged European VAT at the 15% Luxembourg rate even if you purchase the Skype credit in Thailand, and use it in Cambodia, similar reasoning will apply for the USA purchase tax.

So because of the greed of tax authorities, my Filippina girlfriend is treated as a pariah and cannot purchase Skype credit (or other online services) without a credit card.

I must investigate the Skype manager as suggested by Thaimite, though seemingly the "free trial" ends today, and I have no idea what it costs after then. I have had enough skype for the moment.

Anybody know an alternative to skype? I have had enough of the idiots.